Big Business - Second Edition

The Derby Business Expo is coming to The Roundhouse on 30th October.

Big Business

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Big Business

October 2015

4 City centre market back in demand.

5 Nottingham could be UK’s ‘best for start ups’ say business leaders 6 Impression welcomes four new members to its digital marketing team.

8 Why outsourcing your ICT is now a great option – air-it 10 Networking dates 12 All About Tourism Celebrate 2015 with 5 years in business 14 Flint bishop strengthens its insurance litigation 15 Ten social networks that could transform your business 16 Businesses welcome launch of new community car club in Derby 18 Architects on track with £12.5 million design for UK rail network 20 Nottingham business expo moves to Capital FM Arena 22 Derby Companies United at The Derby Business Expo Launch Day 23 Planes, trains and automobiles fuel Derby Business Expo 24 Derby Business Expo speakers 25 Derby Business Expo steams ahead with East Midlands Trains 26 Dean Jackson – Huub 27 Nelsons strengthens dispute resolution team 28 East Midlands Trains – Building a better future for rail travel 30 Over 200 customers queue to welcome Wilko back to Beeston 32 Award winning digital marketing agency recognised as part of the Creative Class of 2015 33 Business will turn 150,000 tonnes of city’s waste into energy 34 Deliveroo are ‘all about’ events 35 Reach unveils major expansion initiative 36 College celebrates apprenticeship success 38 Nottingham’s thriving culture attracts business to relocate 39 Benefits of having an apprentice 40 Talk Staff Recruitment 42 East Midlands Trains – Business Class Travel 44 RSViP 46 Over £21,500 raised on the night of the 3rd Hall-Fast Charity Ball 47 Sweet result as The Treat Kitchen is crowned Nottingham’s Top Independent Business

Big Business is a publication of All About Tourism: www.allabouttourism.co.uk 3

Big Business

CITY CENTRE MARKET BACK IN DEMAND SAYS NOTTINGHAM ESTATE AGENT

October 2015

NOTTINGHAM’S city centre property market is back in demand with prices set to rise according to experts at FHP Living.

The firm has noticed a marked upturn in sales of properties in NG1 over the past twelve months, achieving a range of values from £75,000 to more than £200,000 with popular areas and developments including Nottingham One, Waterfront Plaza, The Lace Market and The Park fringe.

Oliver Marshall is a property consultant for the firm, specialising in the city centre market. He said: “Sales within the city centre have taken a real upturn since the beginning of the year, both to investors and owner-occupiers.

Market demand and market confidence for city centre apartments has improved and we have seen sales and rates increase and the marketing periods decrease”.

“Nottingham One in particular has been a real eye-opener and demonstrator of the return in confidence to the city centre market – since taking on the development in October 2013, we have completed on 95 apartments, have an additional 11 under offer and only two left across the entire development for sale.

“A number of properties in the desirable Tower actually sold over the asking price, which just shows how popular the city centre is becoming once again.”

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Oliver believes this has also had a positive impact within the rented sector for two reasons, adding: “The increase in market demand for apartments has impacted the rented sector in two ways.

up a significant sum for a number of people in Nottinghamshire and, as the residential market in the city centre continues to improve, investing in property is a popular option.

“The unwilling landlord who purchased their property prior to the last recession but decided to hold on to the property whilst market demand was low is now considering selling and a larger proportion of acquisitions are from owner occupiers as opposed to investors.

“Buy-to-let investors that have already purchased their properties are reaping the benefit as the increased demand and reducing stock levels are meaning that we are also seeing an increase in the levels of rents that we are achieving.

“In parallel, as market confidence in the city centre has improved and investors still see value the market demand from investors has increased, both factors leading to price increases.”

This trend has also been noticed by the lettings team within the firm and Brad Musgrove, a city centre lettings specialist, believes that this trend will be reinforced and strengthened by the recent changes to the pension system.

He said: “The latest reforms to the pension system are good news for those people considering an investment in the property market, which is delivering excellent yields.

“Being able to withdraw their entire pension in a lump sum will potentially free

“We are now beginning to enter the most active lettings period in the city centre and now is an opportune time for a potential buy-to-let investor to consider their purchase to enable the property to be available during the summer / autumn when market demand is at its highest.

Oliver Marshall summarised the overall market sentiment by adding: “A good feel factor created by our improving economy has definitely led to a change in market sentiment and we have good demand from owner occupiers, potential buy-to-let investors and tenants.

“Both of the main political parties have recognised in their manifestos the need to continue to stimulate demand in the affordable end of the housing market and we are therefore confident that this trend will continue after the election”.

Big Business

October 2015

NOTTINGHAM COULD BE UK’S ‘BEST FOR START UPS’ SAY BUSINESS LEADERS A NETWORKING event for start-up businesses and SMEs has shown Nottingham’s ambition to make the city the best for growing businesses to set up in.

A networking lunch for start-up businesses and entrepreneurs was held by First Enterprise Business Agency this week at City College Nottingham to discuss some of the challenges small businesses are facing over the coming months.

The event provided an opportunity for business owners to pose questions to city councillors regarding support for small businesses.

Hassan Ahmed, chair of First Enterprise Business Agency, hosted the question and answer session with Nottingham City Council leader Jon Collins, Nick McDonald and MP for Nottingham East, Chris Leslie.

Hassan said: “First Enterprise is a business support organisation which works with small to medium sized businesses to provide them with business support. With the upcoming election, we wanted to give small businesses a platform to raise their concerns about what the future holds for them.

“Small businesses and the BME community in particular feel that in the last five years support has dropped from mainstream funding routes. We want a change and to see more being done to help.

“Small businesses have been struggling to get money, we are a small organisation and we cannot replace the banks but we will continue to do all we can. Access to finance is crucial.”

First Enterprise Business Agency is a Nottingham-based enterprise development organisation serving the entire East Midlands. As a not for profit organisation, First Enterprise provides loans and free business advice to start-ups and existing businesses from all backgrounds and sectors.

Coun Nick McDonald, portfolio holder for jobs and growth, said: “Small businesses in Nottingham are faced with an economy that is not growing and a severe skills shortage.

“Our colleges and universities are not producing enough people with the right skills for what Nottingham needs. We need to invest in young people to help growing businesses with the future employees they need.

Business owners from across the city put their questions to business leaders during the event.

Qammar Zamman, chief executive of First Enterprise, said: “We support more than 500 people a year on average. Those people who we have helped have been able to change their businesses for the better because they have had financial support – We help those who are often overlooked by mainstream organisations and will continue to do so.”

In its 25 year history, First Enterprise has supported 112 businesses in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire area –distributing more than £3 million of loan funding a year.

By 2017 it expects distribute £10 million of funding from a number of Government grant funds and loan streams across the region.

“I am proud of what we are doing for small businesses in Nottingham, we have a very clear plan for growth over the next four years. We will be the best UK city for business start-ups.”

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Big Business

October 2015

Impression welcomes four new members to its digital marketing team.

Nottingham-based digital marketing agency Impression has added four new recruits to its team as it continues to grow its national client portfolio.

The new roles come during a year of significant growth for the agency, which was founded by university graduates Tom Craig and Aaron Dicks in 2012.

Georgia Goodman is the agency’s newest digital marketing executive and will begin studying for CIM qualifications later this year.

Impression has expanded its SEO team with experienced hire Petar Jovetic, who returns home to Nottingham after previous digital marketing roles in Bristol and Loughborough.

The agency also welcomes Alice Yeates, a recently graduate of the University of Nottingham who is undertaking a summer internship which will see her gain valuable experience in SEO, PPC, graphic design and website development.

Petar takes the role of Senior Account Executive and will be managing a number of the agency’s client accounts, delivering a range of SEO services to help them improve their online presence.

Lauren Wilson joins the digital PR team, which has grown recently thanks to a series of new client wins. Lauren recently graduated from the University of Nottingham and is the first recruit on Impression’s graduate scheme, during which she will receive in-house training in SEO, PR, PPC and content marketing as well as completing professional industry qualifications funded by the agency.

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Aaron Dicks, MD of Impression, said: “This recent growth represents the recruitment strategy we’ve employed from the very start, a combination of industry experience to meet extra demand right now and talented potential to build the team for the future.

“We’re investing time and money in developing our new recruits to help them reach their full potential and deliver an industry leading, full-service to our clients.”

After a successful run of client wins, Impression is on track to achieve an annual turnover of half a million pounds by the end of 2015 and moved to its new 2,500 square foot Lace Market headquarters in February of this year, continuing its contribution to the area’s creative growth.

The agency has also just been named a member of the Creative Class 2015, a joint initiative by the Creative Quarter and Nottingham Means Business that showcases the city’s dynamic, entrepreneurial talent.

Big Business

October 2015

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Big Business

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October 2015

Big Business

October 2015

Why outsourcing your ICT is now a great option In the 1990s “process reengineering” was all the rage, and outsourcing specialist business functions was a key element of that.

One of the most common functions to be outsourced was IT. It seemed a natural choice.

The benefits of outsourcing are widely known and include: Lower resource costs Finding competent and committed people is a major challenge. Time and money spent recruiting and then retaining experienced specialists is eliminated, along with the problem of keeping them productive.

Greater flexibility when reacting to competition It isn’t just about reacting. Because technology allows you to take a lead. But the time needed to recoup investment in technology means that you’re often “locked in” for the long term.

Conversely, when a function or service is outsourced you can reasonably expect changes in practise or technology to be accommodated quickly with minimal cost while still reaping the benefits.

Lower costs through economies of scale When the costs of change are spread, and when savings are made through procedural efficiencies, this should be reflected in lower costs.

Focusing on your mission and goals You’re free to direct your time, energy and resource on the activities that contribute directly to your key business objectives.

Pitfalls to be avoided Reengineering and outsourcing came to be seen as a fad, and came to have a bad reputation in some circles.

There could be a reduction of operational control or flexibility, caused by the failure of a service provider to have a genuine understanding of their clients’ goals and culture. Rather than autonomy, there could be paralysis through micromanagement.

Instead of gaining the expected benefits, valuable employees came to fear downsizing or experienced a dehumanising effect. The result was lower staff morale.

“First up, you must ensure that you pick the right areas for outsourcing. ICT and support through a Service Desk has a proven track record of success.

Very often there was a sense that the service provider had their own agenda and priorities – that they were too big to care, and there was no personal touch or willingness to go that extra mile when needed.

Secondly, it is critical that the company providing the outsourced service takes the trouble to understand your goals, your current processes, and your culture. They must be flexible enough to work with you.

Taking advantage of the lessons from the past With the promise of true benefits on offer, it’s not surprising that interest in outsourcing and reengineering should be revisited. Applying lessons learnt from the past, it’s now known as business process reengineering (BPR).

Once more, Information Technology is widely recognised as a key component in realising the promised benefits of BPR, as well as generating opportunities for success through enhanced collaboration and capability.

Information Technology (ICT) now includes communications and telephony.

So the benefits are even greater: greater savings, simplified support structure, and tighter communications between your staff and your customers. Integration between things like voicemail and email is a given, not to mention near-instant configuration management after office moves and staff changes.

How to get outsourcing right Todd McQuilkin, MD of Air-IT, outlines some key factors that ensure success in outsourcing your ICT:

You should also ensure that a service provider has made the right investment in their own systems, expertise and resource levels in order to be able to pass the benefits back to you.

Since we started, back in 2005, Air-IT’s mission has been to share in success with the East Midlands’ business community by enabling companies to make full use of technology in reaching their commercial objectives.

We work hard to understand our clients, and partner with them, whether that means providing a fully outsourced ICT Service or working alongside their own IT teams to complete their capabilities.”

Next steps If you’re serious about exploring new ways to lower your costs and gain competitive advantage through your technology, speak to Air-IT who’ll be exhibiting at the Derby Expo on 30th October.

Air-IT put customer service first, and are more than happy to have a chat about your business and objectives, and ways technology can support your future growth and development.

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Big Business

October 2015

Networking Dates

Nottingham Means Business

As a member of Nottingham Means Business you are welcome to attend our lunches, specialist events and social gatherings.

With informative and inspirational speakers we bring the latest information on Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

Previous speakers have included high profile business leaders, Nottingham City Council, D2N2, Experience Nottinghamshire and Intu.

20/11/15 NOTTINGHAM MEANS BUSINESS MEMBERS’ LUNCH – SPONSORED BY ARUP Nottingham Racecourse 16/12/15 NOTTINGHAM MEANS BUSINESS CHRISTMAS DRINKS – SPONSORED BY RUSSELL SCANLAN Park Plaza Hotel

Forward Ladies

Forward Ladies works to support women in business by creating opportunities to build your network and develop new skills.

Whether a start-up, established business owner, working in a large corporate or small business, we have many opportunities to access online and off-line advice and support from peers and experts.

Our Women in Business Awards Programme is the single largest celebration of successful business women in the UK. Take home an award, build your network, invest in yourself.

Join us at one of our Midlands Power Breakfasts October 15th November 19th December 10th 10

Big Business

October 2015

RSViP Business Network

RSViP Business Network promotes relaxed, open networking amongst like-mind professionals from the East Midlands, by hosting monthly Business Network Socials for SME’s and large corporate firms from a wide range of industries.

Come try us out- Your First Time is FREE: Upcoming Business Network Social Events 2015: • Thursday 22nd October @ Baresca • Thursday 26th November @ Alea GET IN TOUCH TO BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE- info@rsvipnetwork.co.uk / 0115 9417 548

Nottingham City Business Club

Over the years, the Nottingham City Business Club has involved itself in many activities, but its enduring attraction has been it’s Friday Luncheon Meetings which have featured celebrated international, national and local speakers. The Club is believed to be unique in this country. The Club has been presided over by some of the most eminent and innovative business people of the city, and throughout its life has had a considerable influence upon the development of the City of Nottingham, as we know it today.

16/10/2015 Speaker: Steve Thomas, MD, Strategic Development / Experian PLC 17/11/2015 Speaker: Karen Bowes, Vice President International HR, Capital One

Business Exhibitions by All About Tourism

Across the East Midlands we host tailored Exhibitions for the following cities and regions, with a host of stands and hubs available for SME’s and large corporate organisations. We only offer space to local companies and organisations of that region making it a very unique event to be involved with 30/10/2015 The Derby Business Expo at The Roundhouse 03/03/2016 The Nottingham Business Expo at The Capital FM Arena

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Big Business

October 2015

All About Tourism celebrate 5 years in Business in 2015 Starting off in 2010, the company has taken huge leaps and bounds to now being one of the leading events and marketing companies throughout Nottinghamshire.

2015 has already been an amazing year after being announced as one of 10 companies inducted into the Creative Class of 2015 for Nottingham by Nottingham Means Business, The Creative Quarter and Nottingham City Council.

The Creative Class, which was launched back in 2011 is an accolade that identifies 10 companies throughout Nottingham who have immense growth potential and are great advertisements for the city.

Gary Allen, project director, said: “It is great to be recognised for all the work we do in the community, from events through to business expos to the cookbook. We believe in supporting Nottingham’s economy and community, so we hope that through being part of the Creative Class we can inspire 12

more companies to take a risk and go for it – no matter what sector they are active in.”

After putting on a number events this year that consist of Business Exhibitions, The Great Notts Show, The Great Food and Drink Festivals and more, the company intends to put on even more events in 2016 and expanding into Leicester, Lincoln, Derby and beyond. And you can’t talk about All About Tourism without mentioning their fantastic charity cookbook project which launched in 2014 and is set to become even bigger and better with the next edition not only an online publication, but a hard copy which will be sold in over 700 stores of a High Street Retailer.

Since 2013, All About Tourism, have already more than doubled their number of staff and have plans to extend this further over the coming months, showing that the company is going from strength to strength all the time.

Heading into the New Year, All About Tourism have more events than ever before and are even spreading out further afield into Derby, Leicester and Lincoln.

If you are interested in exhibiting or sponsoring at one of their Business Exhibitions then get in touch with James@ allabouttourism.co.uk or visit www. businessexhibition.co.uk There are also sponsorship opportunities available at The Great Food and Drink Festivals, if you are interested in these then contact Mary@allabouttourism.co.uk or visit www.greatfoodanddrinkfestivals.co.uk or you can always contact the office on 0115 9472 768 for more information.

Big Business www.geldards.com 01332 331 631

October 2015

Rooted in transport.

Geldards has been providing expert legal advice to retailers and suppliers in the transport sector for over 25 years. Our specialists know the industry from every perspective, providing an “excellent sevice across the board�*. *Chambers 2015

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Big Business

October 2015

Flint Bishop announce fifth major award nomination Regional heavyweight law firm, Flint Bishop Solicitors have today announced another shortlist nomination for “Legal / Judicial Services Provider of the Year” at this year’s Collections & Customer Service Awards hosted by Credit Today.

The awards are organised by global publishing giant, Athene Publishing, which is the home for Credit Today, the UK’s leading credit industry magazine.

The awards ceremony takes place on 18th November in London. This news comes only weeks after two nominations for ‘Legal and Enforcement’ and ‘Collections’ categories’ organised by Credit Collection and Risk magazine, a nomination for our Employment Law education team by Education Investor and’ Family Young Solicitor of the Year’ at the Family Law Awards.

The awards have been judged in several areas including excellent financial results, positive approach to improving customer outcomes, meeting client expectations, benchmarking as well as an overall contribution to the industry during the past twelve months.

Commercial Services Managing Partner and Head of Litigation Qamer Ghafoor says “We’re delighted to be nominated for another award this year, this time for our contribution to the legal sector at this year’s Credit Todays’ Collections and Customer Service awards.

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Our Debt Recovery and Litigation departments are very strong at Flint Bishop and we are currently undergoing another recruitment drive to keep up with demand for our services. This is because we offer a competitive service as well as providing our clients with positive results. I’m very happy that the judges have recognised our achievements in the past twelve months and look forward to an exciting few years ahead.”

For more information on the services Flint Bishop provide and how we can help you or your business, please visit the website www.flintbishop.co.uk or call 01332 340211.

Big Business

October 2015

Ten social networks that could transform your business Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

It may be the biggest but for many businesses, Facebook is just not right.

For starters, its brand pages are very much weighted towards businessto-consumers so if your potential clients are other business owners then you might be wasting your time. Business owners should be posting around three times a day and Facebook will only show your posts to those it wants to.

The current darling of the social media world, Instagram is a great network for raising your brand awareness, particularly if you sell eye-catching products. The drawback is that you cannot post links back to your website so potential consumers have to make extra effort to buy.

One of the best networks to get business from other business owners, LinkedIn is no longer just a place to find a new job. If used properly for ten minutes a day, you should be able to generate at least three leads a week through LinkedIn. Two of our clients have generated nearly £50,000 between them this year through LinkedIn.

Google+

Pinterest users pin website images they like onto their virtual pinboards. As a network, it drives more website traffic than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube put together and evidence shows that Pinterest users are hot-to-buy. It’s also loved

by Google so if you can label your pinboards with the right search terms, they have a good chance of appearing high in search results.

If you measure by the number of accounts, Google+ is the second largest social network in the world. It can be difficult to use but the key thing is that Google+ is owned by…. Google. Therefore its influence over search results cannot be underestimated. Google experts frequently cite a +1 on Google+ (equivalent to a ‘like’ on Facebook) as the second biggest influence on a Google search.

Twitter Most businesses use Twitter badly, tweeting out sales messages and offering little. The average life of a tweet is estimated to be just seven minutes so you need to tweet often. The power of Twitter lies in our ability to use it to find and build relationships with potential customers. This is time-consuming which is why we are asked to manage lots of Twitter campaigns.

Pinterest

Quora Wondering why you never see baby pigeons? Then Quora will have the answer. It’s a social network where questions are asked and experts from across the world provide the answer. Take the example of the accountant who answers questions on Quora about his area of expertise. He’s found that those he gives free advice to then ask him to do their regular accounts.

YouTube YouTube is another network owned

by Google and videos have the potential to appear high up in search results. When you add that to the fact that Google think more highly of your website if it includes videos then YouTube is a no-brainer. And you don’t need to spend a fortune on professional video companies anymore – a decent smart phone can often do the job.

Reddit It may be one of the ugliest social networks in the world but Reddit has enormous power. It’s a site where users start conversations or post website links they like into different categories. I once posted a blog on our website about Formula 1 and social media – within 24 hours it had had 600 hits of which 500 came from Reddit.

Vine This six-second video network provides businesses with an easy and effective way to create videos which can be not only shared on Vine but also posted onto Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and even Instagram.

Want to tell your story over social media? Vine is invaluable.

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Big Business

October 2015

Businesses welcome launch of new community car club in Derby Businesses are being encouraged to sign up to Derby’s new Community Car Club which is operated by the UK’s leading independent car club, Co-wheels. The scheme gives businesses and residents access to 10 low and ultra-low emission vehicles across the city on a flexible ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis.

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Big Business

The Car Club aims to appeal to businesses in Derby as well as private residents with businesses that sign up to the scheme able to book the cars out and operate a pool car service without the costs associated with owning and operating their own fleet of pool cars.

To become part of the scheme, businesses pay a one-off lifetime membership fee which enables them to book one of 10 cars, depending on their requirements, with prices starting at as little as £3.75 an hour for a vehicle.

Co-wheels Car Clubs already operate in more than 50 locations across the country.

They are aimed at both businesses and residents and are designed to improve links between key locations and developments in the city, reducing parking pressure, and enabling more sustainable commuting.

The cars are available from dedicated parking bays in Derby as follows: • • • • • • • • •

Queen Street Vernon Street Friar Gate St. Helen’s Street (BBC Radio Derby) Tennant Street (Guildhall) Midland Road (Derby Train Station) Belper Street Drewry Lane Derby City Council House

October 2015

Ellie Grebenik from Co-wheels said: “The scheme is part of Derby’s Connected initiative which is all about making sustainable travel choices a way of life in Derby. This theme ties in with Co-wheels’ ethos of promoting car clubs as a low cost sustainable transport option that can save users money, time and help people to keep fit and active. Car Clubs are growing in popularity across the UK as more and more people see the benefits in terms of costs and flexibility that they bring. Car clubs enable both residents and businesses to benefit from more choice of sustainable transport options, with the flexibility of knowing they have access to a car when needed. For businesses, a Car Club is a convenient and low cost alternative to running expensive pool cars or claiming business mileage.”

The new Co-wheels branded cars will be made up of a mix of fully electric, hybrid, and low emission vehicles.

Councillor Asal Azfal, Cabinet Member for Cohesion and Integration said:, “I am pleased to be part of the city’s new car club launch, and look forward to seeing this scheme enhance the city’s sustainable travel agenda. It will give more and more people access to additional sustainable travel options, as well as reducing travel associated costs for our local businesses.

I invite and encourage businesses and residents to register and get access to one of the 10 cars available”

Businesses can sign up with an account, with staff drivers. Each driver receives a smartcard which will allow them to open the car, and at the end of the booking they return the vehicle to the bay and the registered debit card is charged.

All drivers with a business account are also entitled to a free private Co-wheels membership, which allows them to book and drive cars with their smartcard for personal use.

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Big Business

October 2015

ARCHITECTS ON TRACK WITH £12.5 MILLION DESIGN FOR UK RAIL NETWORK WORK has started on a £12.5 million building in Derby designed to test the new Crossrail trains which will operate in London.

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Big Business

Nottingham-based architects CPMG designed the 10,400 square metre building which features a 250 metre long testing hanger for up to four complete trains and office space for up to 90 staff, on behalf of Balfour Beatty.

Located at Bombardier’s Litchurch Lane site in Derby where trains are currently manufactured, the project is due for completion in February 2016.

Paul Bodill, project director for CPMG said: “We were able to bring years of experience in industrial building design to this project to create something simple, contemporary and functional for Bombardier.

“The building allows for newly-built train carriages to be fully assessed in a safe environment before they commence commissioning and entry into service.

October 2015

Each train is subject to extensive testing of all safety systems, doors and connections between train carriages, with these being functionally tested before being commissioned.

“Its thermal enclosure means it will be energy efficient, the roof-light panels will provide plenty of natural daylight and the building itself will be very low maintenance. Modern and comfortable office space ensures that the building forms more than a part of the production process, but also works as somewhere to do business with clients.

Andy Ward, Operations Director for Balfour Beatty said: “We have lots of experience in delivering this type of facility through our civil engineering and building business, and we look forward to supporting our customer, Bombardier to deliver this state-of-the-art facility.”

“We’re delighted to have another opportunity to work closely with Balfour Beatty and engineers Scott Hughes on this project which brings jobs into the area and supports the modernisation of the UK rail network.”

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October 2015

Big Business

October 2015

The Nottingham Business Expo Moves to Arena.

After the staggering success in its first year at The Nottingham Conference Centre, The Nottingham Business Expo has now moved to the biggest indoor venue in the city, The Capital FM Arena, for the next event which will take place on the 3rd March 2016.

Thousands of delegates from Nottingham and beyond flocked to The Nottingham Conference Centre earlier this year to see what the first ever Nottingham Business Expo had to offer and it is safe to say it didn’t disappoint. With rave reviews from exhibitors and delegates alike, the event organisers could see only one way to make this event bigger, by moving to the biggest arena Nottingham had to offer.

The move now means that there will be a considerable increase in the number of companies exhibiting at The Nottingham Business Expo and will also be able to facilitate more delegates at the event.

Speakers.

Andrew Neil is a highly sought after political speaker and is an accomplished event host known for his lively and entertaining speeches. Having had years of experience working within politics and having interviewed some of the worlds, he is rich in political and economic knowledge.

Neil will be attending amongst other guest speakers from all areas of the business world to share tips, advice and personal experiences.

Brent Hoberman co-founded lastminute. com in April 1998, with Martha Lane Fox, in the living room of his London flat three years after having drafted the initial idea. Brent was 29 and Martha was just 25.

Brent was CEO since the inception of the company. lastminute.com offers consumers airline tickets, car hire, hotel rooms, package holidays, entertainment tickets,

restaurant reservations, home delivery, speciality services, gifts and auctions.

Brent’s initial vision remains unchanged – ‘to delight customers with great value, inspiration and solutions when they are going away, going out or staying in.’

More speakers to be announced.

Workshops There will be a host of workshops taking place at The Nottingham Business Expo, which will be conducted by industry leaders such as Air-IT. These workshops are a great way to learn how to improve your business and to find out more about what each company who conduct them are all about.

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Big Business

October 2015

Derby Companies Unite at the Launch of The Derby Business Expo.

Companies throughout Derbyshire came together at the launch of The Derby Business Expo at The Roundhouse.

The historic venue will play host to this momentous event on Friday 30th October, which is set to be one of the most prestigious events in the Derby business calendar. The leading objective of the event is to create inward investment and business growth throughout the city and county.

Donna Adams, Business Development Manager for East Midlands Trains, stated: “We are proud to play an important role in supporting local businesses and the economy, providing convenient and punctual services from Derby to London and other important towns and cities across the country. Supporting the Derby Business Expo is part of that ongoing commitment to encourage growth and investment along our route and we are delighted to be part of this excellent project.”

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Along with the sponsors, a host of exhibitors and supporters were also present at the press day; Harper HR, Air-IT, Gravity Digital Ltd, Talk Staff Recruitment, Russell Scanlan, Three Hundred & Sixty Degrees, Jury’s Inn, Status Social, Marketing Derby, Clean Slate, Flint Bishop, and Swindell & Pearson.

The press day gave an opportunity for all attendees to do some networking with fellow exhibitors and to get a feel for the stunning venue.

The main event, taking place at the end of the month, will be a great place for delegates to come along and network.

With an array of fantastic guest speakers, including Former F1 Mechanic Marc Priestley and Huub Managing Director Dean Jackson and workshops taking place by industry leaders, there will be plenty of opportunities to gather new knowledge.

Come down to The Roundhouse on the 30th October and help celebrate Derby as a great city to do business and make contacts whilst you’re there. All you have to do to is register for your free delegate ticket, more info can be found at www.businessexhibition.co.uk/ derbybusinessexpo.

Big Business

October 2015

‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ Fuel The First Ever Derby Business Expo.

Derbyshire’s first ever Business Exhibition, sponsored by East Midlands Trains, Derby Connected and East Midlands Chamber, will be taking place at The Roundhouse on the 30th October later this year. Fully supported by Derby City Council and Marketing Derby, The Derby Business Expo is set to showcase the county as a great place to do business, create inward investment and to continue to build on business relationships within Derby.

‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ is the overall theme of the Derby Business Expo.

Rolls-Royce are among the highly reputable companies attending the exhibition, along with providing informative and expressive speeches about their respective sectors. Marc Priestley, former mechanic of

Formula One team McLaren Racing, will also be providing a speech on his previous insights from the fast paced motorsport environment. Dean Jackson, managing director of Derby based Huub, Claire Brumby, founder of Scrubby’s Crisps and Susan Hallam, Managing Director of Hallam Internet will be among the other high profiled speakers at this event.

Councillor Martin Rawson, Cabinet Member for Communities and City Centre Regeneration, said: “We’re pleased to be supporting the Derby Business Expo which will be an inspiring event for the city’s business community. The expo is all about local companies and organisations, so it’s the perfect opportunity to network and realise the business potential we have in Derby and the local area.”

Harper HR, Flint Bishop and The Bowmer and Kirkland Group are just some of the fantastic companies that will be exhibiting at this prestigious event at The Roundhouse, being just a selection of the 80 companies set to attend. Along with speakers and exhibitors, there will also be a host of workshops taking place over the course of the day, with these being conducted by industry leaders, such as AirIT, Talk Staff Recruitment, Swindell and Pearson and Status Social.

If you want to find out more information on The Derby Business Expo or to get tickets as a delegate, you can go to www. businessexhibition.co.uk/derbybusinessexpo or call the office on 0115 9472 768 if you are interested in exhibiting at the exhibition.

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Big Business

October 2015

Speakers at The Derby Business Expo The main aim of The Derby Business Expo is to celebrate Derby as one of the UK’s great places to do business, whilst also pushing the city to keep on growing.

The Business Exhibitions are a valuable commodity that allows companies to network, promote business and encourage new business from within the region. There will also be the opportunity to have your own workshops at the event, which will showcase your company’s strengths even further. All of this, with some fantastic guest speakers in Marc Priestley, Paul Harris, Dean Jackson, Claire Brumby and Susan Hallam, is set to revolutionise the way that Derby does business.

Working as a Formula 1 race mechanic and a member of the pit stop crew for McLaren Racing for almost a decade, Marc Priestley has now moved into the media and broadcasting side of the adrenaline fuelled sport. His experience in the pit lane gives him a unique insight in to the sport and how to keep composed in the fast world of motorsport.

Director of Economic Development at Rolls Royce, Paul Harris, is a renowned change agent with a fantastic track record in launching new business units and transforming old ones. With high experience in setting strategic direction, establishing operating frameworks and leading multi-disciplined teams to deliver strategic change, Paul Harris will certainly deliver a speech worth listening too.

Dean Jackson, Managing Director of award winning company Huub, who fell in love with triathlons in the late 80’s, worked in marketing for several different companies, including Asics and wetsuit firm Blue Seventy, before setting up his own unique brand in the form of Huub. Dean set up his business by himself, working out of an office space he had created in his garage.

Despite his humble beginnings, Huub has seen a meteoric rise in national and international attention.

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Claire Brumby recently stepped out of her comfort zone in sales, marketing and business development by launched her own business in 2012, Scrubby’s Crisps. This led her to take on the infamous ‘Dragons’ on the hit BBC Two show, Dragon’s Den. In the months after the show aired, Scrubby’s Crisps are now on the shelves of online supermarket Ocado and they will soon be stocked in 275 Waitrose stores nationwide.

Susan Hallam, Managaing Director of Hallam Internet, Susan has worked in the UK information industry since 1985, and is a recognised leader in the field of Internet marketing. She is a regular speaker at industry conferences including SMX, contributes to research published by MOZ, and contributes regularly to the BBC and the traditional press.

Big Business

October 2015

The Derby Business Expo is Going Full Steam Ahead with Transport Sponsors ‘East Midlands Trains’ The newest and biggest event in Derby’s business calendar, The Derby Business Exhibition, will be joined on the journey by the new ‘Transport Sponsors’ East Midlands Trains. The exhibition is set to be held on the 30th October at The Roundhouse in Derby, with the intention to encourage inward investment, growth and business relationships from within the county, establishing Derby as a great city to do business.

role in supporting local businesses and the economy, providing convenient and punctual services from Derby to London and other important towns and cities across the country.

East Midlands Trains deliver over 470 train services every day, aiming to get them to their destination on time, every time.

They also work on seven main principles to ensure they are a highly responsible business, which are to: operate a highquality and efficient train service, recognise that different customers have different needs, encourage more travel by rail, help to harness the development potential of the East Midlands region, increase train services, reduce rail times and improve connections on regional and local routes.

There has been many successes and improvements over the years with East Midlands Trains. £30 million train refurbishment programme, £40 million improvement fund for stations, facilities and integrated transport as well as being the ‘most punctual long distance train operating company’ for 6 years running.

“Supporting the Derby Business Exhibition is part of that ongoing commitment to encourage growth and investment along our route and we are delighted to be part of this excellent project.”

The Derby Business Expo, which has the theme of ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’, already has the support of Marketing Derby and The Derby City Council, along with Rolls-Royce to complete the theme alongside East Midlands Trains.

With a fantastic range of companies, such as Jury’s Inn, Bowmer and Kirkland, Flint Bishop and influential business delegates attending, this is an event where Derby based companies can truly show what they are about to other businesses throughout the county. To find out more about The Derby Business Expo and to register for your free delegate tickets, please visit www.BusinessExhibition.co.uk/ derbybusinessexpo and follow them on Twitter @Business_Expos.

Donna Adams, Business Development Manager for East Midlands Trains, said: “We are proud to play an important 25

Big Business

Dean Jackson at the Business Expo

Dean Jackson, a shy boy from Alvaston who is now founder of the incredibly successful wetsuit brand Huub, will be speaking at this years Derby Business Expo, providing insight into his renowned company.

The company now brings in sales of almost £2million per annum and their wetsuits are used by everyone from the Brownlee Brothers to Chef Gordon Ramsey.

This year’s Expo takes place on the 30th of October at the Derby Roundhouse, featuring over 100 of the city’s leading businesses and innovators, with Dean will be leading the industry talks there.

Huub are now also the swim sponsors and event organisers of the Jenson Button Triathlon, through there off shoot company ‘Huub Events’, which was held in Markeaton Park in Derby on the 12th of July.

Dean, who fell in love with triathlons in the late 80’s, worked in marketing for several different companies, including Asics and wetsuit firm Blue Seventy, before setting up his own unique brand in the form of Huub.

As part of Dean’s vision, the company aims to create better products through innovative techniques that combine research, science, and reality.

Named after Professor Huub Toussaint, a Dutch Hydrodynamic expert who worked with Dean on the designs for his unique brand of wetsuits; Huub aims to deliver wetsuits that give wearers an unparalleled level of comfort whilst remaining streamlined.

Dean set up his business by himself, working out of an office space he had created in his garage. Despite his humble beginnings, Huub has seen a meteoric rise in national and international attention.

The attention to detail that goes into creating the suits cannot be understated, over a quarter of a million is spent by Huub on research and development alone. Dean stated that “With the help of the technology strategy board, huub will shortly be unveiling a M.A.D system which measures active drag and will be the most advanced testing piece of equipment for swim testing ever created.”

Their latest creation, the Archimedes II, was made using groundbreaking techniques pioneered by Huub themselves, and rigorously tested to the highest standard.

Very few companies take their products as

October 2015

seriously as Huub do.

Huub are a well-known name locally as well as internationally, having won two honours at the Derby Telegraph Business Awards last year, along with winning the Sales and Marketing Award sponsored

by Vision Express and Dean himself won Entrepreneur of the Year With such an incredible rise in popularity comes the need to expand. It wasn’t long before Dean moved out of his garage and on to bigger and better prospects, taking on financial and sales expertise, Huub continued to grow.

Having the Brownlee brothers sign up to wear the suits was one of most important moments for Huub, effectively securing their identity as a global brand, one trusted by professional athletes and industry insiders alike.

Now headquartered at Sinfin Central Business Park, Dean looks to expand Huub even further. Beyond offering the best wetsuits in the business, they now sell branded clothing as well as professional grade training equipment for the triathletes.

To call Dean’s business a success would be a disservice to his achievements. The best thing for a business to do is to never be satisfied, and always be pushing to achieve more. These are the kinds of values that have enabled Dean and the Huub brand to become a multi-million pound enterprise in such a short space of time.

At this years expo, Dean hopes that he can inspire like-minded individuals to strive for greatness, and help expand the reach of businesses in Derby.

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Big Business

October 2015

NELSONS STRENGTHENS DISPUTE RESOLUTION TEAM NELSONS Solicitors has expanded its dispute resolution team in Nottingham to 16 members following the hire of James Beat as an associate.

planning appeals, boundary disputes, disrepair and nuisance claims, and injunction applications.

Originally from the East Midlands, James moved to Child & Child in London where he qualified in 2007. He then gained 8 years’ post qualification experience with the firm, predominantly in property litigation.

James said: “The Nottingham dispute resolution team is ranked in tier one in the Legal 500 and is well respected across the region. It took the right role to persuade me to make the move from the south, and this position very much suits my expertise.

James’ arrival at Nelsons is part of an ongoing growth strategy for the firm.

His role will again focus on property litigation, including party wall and rights of light disputes. He will also use his wide experience to assist Nelsons’ dispute resolution team with commercial disputes including landlord and tenant issues, contractual disputes, rights of way,

“I’m excited about developing the property litigation services for a firm of Nelsons’ standing and I very much look forward to meeting and assisting the firm’s existing clients. I will also continue to work with clients and contacts from London, including developers, surveyors and property consultants with whom I have worked for a number of years.”

Nottingham dispute resolution partner, Chris Adams said: “James will bring significant experience to the team which will build on and strengthen the range of services which we offer.

“I welcome James not only to Nelsons but also back to the East Midlands and look forward to working with him.”

James is a member of a number of professional bodies including the Property Litigation Association, the Pyramus &Thisbe Club and the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association.

Nelsons has offices throughout the East Midlands in Nottingham, Leicester and Derby.

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October 2015

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Big Business

October 2015

OVER 200 CUSTOMERS QUEUE TO WELCOME WILKO BACK TO BEESTON Doors to the brand new Wilko store in Beeston have officially opened to the public, following a grand opening ceremony today in June.

After closing in 2012, the value home and garden retailer, was welcomed back to the community by 200 customers, who eagerly waited outside the new 7,000sq ft store, based in The Square.

Wilko retired chairman, Tony Wilkinson, The Mayor of the Borough of Broxtowe, Councillor Susan Bagshaw and new Wilko store manager, Jim Ellis, took part in a ceremonial ribbon cutting to declare the store officially open for business.

Store manager, Jim, commented: “We were overwhelmed with the number of people who came to the opening. Our customers demonstrated such loyalty three years ago when the store was forced to close and they have certainly shown their loyalty again now we’re re-open.”

To mark the special occasion, celebratory Wilko cupcakes were given out throughout the day and the first 100 customers received a £5 gift card to help stock up on home and garden essentials.

The Mayor of the Borough of Broxtowe, Councillor Susan Bagshaw, said: “It was an honour to officially open the new store.

The amount of people here today just proves how much Wilko has been missed – I am delighted the store is back.”

Store manager, Jim, continued: “My team and I couldn’t be happier to be back in the community and hope the new store will be a real shopping hub in Beeston. We are looking forward to welcoming customers

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into the new store over the coming weeks and will be on hand to ensure they have the best experience possible.”

To continue the opening celebrations, the new store will host a family fun day this Saturday 27th June from 11am to 3pm.

Families will be able to enjoy free face painting, balloon modelling and a summer craft workshop, plus there will be further gift card giveaways.

Wilko remains a family owned firm and has been trading for more than 85 years, with JK Wilkinson opening the first Wilko store on Charnwood Street in Leicester in 1930.

The company is constantly on the lookout for new sites and currently has 376 stores across the UK, including 10 in Scotland.

Seeing 10.5 million customers through the door every year, each one of them is spoilt for choice. There are more than 25,000 quality products for the home and garden in store as well as online at Wilko.com.

At the top of Wilko’s to do list is providing the best quality products along with top class customer service. Being a communityfocused retailer in the heart of the High Street also remains really important, with the company actively supporting local charities and community groups. Team members are always encouraged to get involved and support local causes that are important to them.

Big Business

October 2015

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Big Business

October 2015

Award winning digital marketing agency recognised as part of the Creative Class of 2015 Nottingham based Hallam Internet’s MD Susan Hallam has been selected to be part of the Nottingham 2015 Creative Class of Top Ten Entrepreneurs.

Creative Class leaders are picked each year to represent the flair and entrepreneurial talent in Nottingham. They are chosen from the most exciting and dynamic companies from all sectors based on three essential criteria: creativity, ambition, and ambassadorial abilities.

“We are delighted to keep building a leading-edge profile in the city, and being part of Creative Class 2015 will certainly raise even more awareness of our services with businesses in Nottingham that want use the Internet to be even more competitive”.

Commenting on the acknowledgement, Susan Hallam said: “Creativity is the cornerstone of Hallam Internet’s success, and delivering innovative and fresh digital marketing campaigns is what makes our clients more successful on the Internet. As a team, we are celebrating being recognised as one of the leading creative businesses in the city.

Hallam Internet’s continuous expansion and business growth further positions the agency as the digital marketing partner of choice within the region, with a strong team of 21 and counting digital marketing experts.

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Susan also adds: “I would also like to thank Stuart Ross from High Growth Academy who nominated us. It is always appreciated being acknowledged by a business partner in such a way”.

This business recognition could not be timelier. 2015 also happens to signify a notable milestone for the agency, which celebrates 15 successful years in business.

With a strong reputation in the digital marketing industry, Hallam Internet’s plan is to remain on the curve of the current very high growth trajectory, by continuing to recruit and develop the best and brightest digital marketers in Nottingham.

Big Business

October 2015

BUSINESS WILL TURN 150,000 TONNES OF CITY’S WASTE INTO ENERGY NOTTINGHAM start-up waste business Bio Dynamic UK Ltd is to turn 150,000 tonnes of the city’s waste into energy, thanks to the initial funding it received from First Enterprise Business Agency.

With two brothers, Maxwell Bagnall and Billy Jay, at the helm of the company Bio Dynamic UK Ltd is to double its output by more than 50 per cent after the council passed plans to see it increase from dealing with 50,000 tonnes of waste a year to 150,000.

Maxwell Bagnall, director at Bio Dynamic UK Ltd, said: “We are really grateful to First Enterprise for all their support. They were the first organisation to believe in us and give us the backing we needed to open the door to other funding opportunities to help us start the business.”

Serving the entire East Midlands, First Enterprise is a not for profit organisation providing loans and free business advice to start-ups and existing businesses from all backgrounds and sectors.

First Enterprise provided Biodynamic with £240,000 loan funding from its ELEM and Regional Growth Fund funding streams.

Maxwell added: “We think First Enterprise has backed a winner as we have lots of exciting plans for growth in the pipeline and have already been awarded with best environmental business in the Nottingham Post’s 2014 environmental awards.”

Qammar Zamman, chief executive of First Enterprise Business Agency, said: “Bio Dynamic had a clear vision of where they wanted to take the business and an excellent model. Before they came to us they had not had the support from other lenders, but we saw potential in their business idea.

“We provided them with an initial £240,000 loan, and now the business is valued at approximately £9.2 million. Maxwell and Billy have propelled Bio Dynamic forward in such a short space of time and we are really pleased to see the business doing well.”

The plant, situated on Colwick Industrial Estate in Netherfield, used to be a maggot farm. It turns waste food into energy with waste coming from either retail outlets that has typically reached its sell-by date or display date and can no longer be sold or agricultural waste which has been damaged or misshapen vegetables deemed unacceptable to the main supermarkets.

The plant was recently valued at £9.2 million and is now the second biggest plant of its type in the country, but Maxwell said with its expansion plans the business valuation is expected to rocket.

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Big Business

October 2015

Deliveroo are ‘All About’ Events.

Nottingham’s newest delivery service, ‘Deliveroo’, who bring food from some of the best restaurants around straight to your home or office, recently attended The Great Food and Drink Festival at Nottingham Castle. Although established in many other cities throughout the UK, Deliveroo wanted to get themselves in front of as many local Nottingham people as possible.

With over 10,000 people through the gates of Nottingham Castle, they certainly succeeded in this objective and as a result have booked themselves into each event that Nottingham based Company ‘All About Tourism’ put on for the remainder of the calendar year.

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Jake Lourie, Area Marketing Manager of Deliveroo commented, “Since we started working with All About Tourism we have seen a dramatic increase in orders within the city, especially the park area. After the success that we had at Nottingham Castle we have decided to book ourselves into the rest of the events that All About Tourism put on, including The Great Notts Show in September and The Nottingham Business Expo in 2016” With a fantastic selection of restaurants to choose from, including ‘Gourmet Burger Kitchen’, ‘Carluccios’, ‘Tamatanga’ and many more, it has never been easier to get fantastic food delivered where ever you desire.

“The response we have had from the public and businesses alike, has been nothing short of amazing. We loved the feedback that we got given to us at The Great Food and Drink Festival and we are looking forward to more positive feedback from the future events” If you want more information on how you can get involved with Deliveroo then you can email Jason on midlands.marketing@ deliveroo.co.uk or visit their website to see exactly what you can have delivered: www.deliveroo.co.uk

Big Business

October 2015

REACH UNVEILS MAJOR EXPANSION INITIATIVE REACH Separations is set to double laboratory space at its UKbased facility as a result of increased demand for its specialist purification services.

The expansion will see significant investment in analytical equipment and purification systems and at the company’s headquarters located at BioCity in Nottingham.

Growth for the purification expert is being driven by increased demand for its chromatography capabilities from the drug discovery, contract research and agrochemical sectors across Europe.

With a focus on providing purification with a rapid turnaround time to ensure the material is in back in the hands of the chemist quickly, Reach Separations has built a reputation for being one of the most sophisticated chromatography purification providers in the contract services space.

The company’s technical group is led by director Phil Abbott, who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years, including several years at AstraZeneca as a Separation Science Group Leader.

He said: “This venture is a major milestone for our organisation and essentially enables

us to do more of what we’ve already been doing over the last few years, but at even greater speed for even more customers.

“Our clients typically require purified materials as quickly as possible. Our expanded resource and capacity will allow us to work at increased speed to help reduce screen time and get compounds back to clients even quicker, helping meet tight deadlines.

“The upsurge in demand we have experienced from companies developing new compounds shows no sign of slowing down so its important that we are proactive about expansion and ready to meet the needs of new and existing clients.”

The company’s accelerated growth has also been bolstered by a thriving strategic alliance with Evotec, which has seen the company support the CRO in helping hit client deadlines on a consistent basis.

After becoming a technology partner in 2014, Reach Separations has since

provided ongoing purification, analytical and small molecule chromatography to aid Evotec’s pharmaceutical and biotech clients worldwide.

Supporting small molecule synthesis requirements, the company supports clients in the fields of chiral, reverse phase and normal phase chromatography from mg scale to in excess of 500g.

“Adding a UPC2, QDa Mass spectrometry detector, HClass UPLC, rotary evaporators and two preparative SFCs will massively enhance our offering to the market.

“For instance, the new equipment will allow us to use SFC with mass spectrometry, which is a very rare technique to see in the sector so is an exciting capability addition,” added Mr Abbott.

Reach Separations recently joined a UK-led CRO mission to Scandinavia to present how collaborative outsourcing can help drug development companies overcome R&D scientific challenges.

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Big Business

October 2015

COLLEGE CELEBRATES APPRENTICESHIP SUCCESS Building on its status as one of the largest and most successful further education-providers in the country, West Nottinghamshire College Group is now enjoying a national reputation for the work it does with employers and apprentices.

Amazing apprentices Top-performing apprentices from West Nottinghamshire College Group were honoured at a prestigious House of Lords reception.

Its annual Celebration of Apprenticeships saw almost 30 outstanding current and former apprentices receive awards and formal congratulations in front of their proud families and employers.

They were selected from the college group’s crop of 12,000 apprentices in recognition of their talent, dedication and contribution to their workplace.

The high-profile event was hosted by Professor Lord Patel of Bradford OBE, who joined principal and chief executive Dame Asha Khemka DBE, Sherwood MP Mark Spencer and Ashfield MP Gloria De Piero in presenting trophies and certificates to the award-winners from Vision West Nottinghamshire College, its subsidiary company Vision Apprentices and partner training providers.

Keynote speaker was Broxtowe MP and Minister of State for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise, Anna Soubry, while other guests included Mansfield MP Sir Alan Meale and senior figures from the further education and skills sector.

Dame Asha said: “It is always a tremendous honour to congratulate our latest star apprentices in the truly inspirational House of Lords while also celebrating our work 36

with employers to provide the skills and talent for their business to flourish.

“As one of the country’s largest providers of apprenticeships, we are committed to playing our part in helping the government realise its ambition of creating an additional three million apprentices within this parliament.”

Mark Spencer MP said: “The wealth of apprenticeship opportunities at the college is fantastic. For my constituents to have such a great facility on their doorstep is brilliant – not only for the local economy but for employers who are looking for young people with great skills.”

Company that cares The college has launched a training partnership with a Nottinghamshire provider of home-care services to elderly and vulnerable people, to help drive-up standards in the industry.

It means every care and support worker employed by Respectful Care is automatically enrolled onto an apprenticeship in health and social care if they possess less than 12 month’s experience.

This comes after the Mansfield Woodhouse company’s co-founders Scott Marsh and Mark Docherty asked the college to create a comprehensive training package to equip their staff with the skills and knowledge to deliver the best-possible service to clients.

They want to see improvements to the quality of care across the entire sector – and say this starts with giving staff the skills and knowledge to carry out the role effectively.

The apprenticeship through the college combines on-and-off the job training, with staff gaining the Level 2 or Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care upon successful completion.

Big Business

October 2015

Launched in 2013, Respectful Care provides 1,000 hours of personalised care, support and companionship services each week to clients across Mansfield, Ashfield and surrounding areas.

Caption: Proud principal and chief executive Dame Asha Khemka with awardwinning apprentices at the House of Lords.

The firm recently expanded into Nottingham, opening a franchise in Arnold as part of its impressive growth.

Mr Docherty said: “Our partnership with West Nottinghamshire College ensures all our staff are trained to the correct industry standards to support clients with a wide range of needs, enabling them to live safely and independently in their own homes.”

Emma Brown, the college’s employer engagement lead for health, said: “We’re delighted to support Respectful Care’s ambition to raise standards of care throughout the industry.”

Vision Apprentices Vision Apprentices is the employer engagement arm of West Nottinghamshire College Group.

It provides apprenticeships and work-based learning programmes to over 16,000 students and 3,000 employers each year – delivering employment, training and support in a wide range of industry sectors.

With a national footprint, Vision Apprentices is the provider-of-choice for some of the country’s largest businesses.

To discover how it could benefit your business, visit www.visionapprentices.co.uk or call 0800 121 8317.

Caption: Some of Respectful Care’s latest apprentices pictured with Scott Marsh, Mark Docherty, care manager Lisa Nussey and Emma Brown, from the college.

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October 2015

NOTTINGHAM’S THRIVING CULTURE ATTRACTS BUSINESS TO RELOCATE A LOVE of Nottingham is what drew entrepreneur Jason Absalom to relocate his business to the city, moving 150 miles away from his home in Suffolk.

The managing director of recruitment agency Parham Consulting, decided to move his family and business to Nottingham after visiting the city several times on business. He was attracted to Nottingham’s array of entertainment, architecture, range of businesses and atmosphere.

things side by side. However, when we visited Nottingham we were taken aback by the array of facilities and entertainment on offer; we were so impressed we have even nicknamed Nottingham mini-London!

Nottingham has so much on offer, in an accessible and well serviced way.

Since moving to Nottingham over two months ago, Jason has thrown himself into the city’s business network, working hard to create relationships between himself and other like-minded business owners. Jason has joined Nottingham Means Business (NMB), a business led organisation, which works to promote collaboration and strengthen the city’s economy.

“Nottingham is as an undiscovered gem, it is an incredible city filled to the brim with music, culture, restaurants and opportunity.

I am happy we have finally been able to make the move to Nottingham and we are excited to get to know other professionals in the region. We are certain being a member of NMB will benefit us, and we hope to become a key part of Nottingham’s business community.”

Jason said: “After living in rural Suffolk for many years, my wife and I thought there were only two choices: living in the city or in the countryside - we never considered you could have both of these

Nottingham Means Business (NMB) chief executive Simon Gray, is pleased to see businesses like Parham Consulting, choosing to relocate to Nottingham. Simon said: “It is wonderful to hear from Jason

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why he chose to relocate to Nottingham – it is a fantastic reminder of what we, as a city have on offer to businesses, families and individuals. Parham Consulting will be a great addition to the city’s business community, and we look forward to getting to know Jason at our upcoming lunches and events.”

Parham Consulting is a recruitment consultancy specialising in IT, accountancy, finance and sales. Founded in 2001 by Jason, the business has continued to offer a relatable and tailored recruitment service.

Jason added: “Nottingham has so many attractive attributes and I hope we can be part of the movement to promote Nottingham, through sharing our experiences of the city with others. We are excited to continue building our lives in Nottingham and we look forward to our future here.”

Big Business

October 2015

The benefits of having an apprentice If you are planning to grow your business and want to increase your workforce then taking on an apprentice is an option worth considering. Over the past few years there has been a big push to help young people find employment and increase their skills.

It’s also opening up far more opportunities for young people that do not want to go to University but are keen to learn through a more vocational route.

From an employer’s perspective taking on an apprentice can be very rewarding as you can take on a young person that is enthusiastic, willing to learn and can be moulded to learn the skills that are specific to your company. This is particularly beneficial if you work in an industry which may not be well known to young people choosing their careers for the future, e.g. the mineral products industry.

Did you know that 96% of businesses report a benefit to their business when they recruit an apprentice?

The D2N2 Skills website www.d2n2skills. co.uk outlines the support employers can access both at a national and local level to find out more about how apprenticeships work and the process for taking on an apprentice.

There has been a national drive to make the process of taking on an apprentice more straightforward. If you want to find out more about apprenticeships you can contact the National Apprenticeship Service on 08000 150 600. The advisors will find out more about your business and skills requirements for the role, and then advise on how you can get support locally.

Who can you take on as an apprentice?

Apprentices have to be aged over 16 and they would work within your business whilst studying for a work-based qualification at the same time. This can be from GCSE, or equivalent, up to degree level. You can take on someone new into an apprenticeship role. You can also take on your existing staff, where appropriate, as they can access the apprenticeship programme as part of their skills development and career progression.

The apprentice needs to be employed at least 30 hours a week and the apprenticeship programme runs for a minimum of a year. You can develop your own in-house training programme or you can find a training provider that will handle the apprentice’s training, qualification and assessment.

Is there any funding available?

You must pay an apprentice at least the minimum wage; the hourly rate is dependent on their age. There is no upper limit to the age for apprenticeships, however, grants available are age dependent.

Employers who have not taken on an apprentice in the last year may be eligible to receive a £1,500 grant. These grants are available if your apprentice is aged between 16 and 24. Some grants, such as the AGE Grant is available for businesses that have less then 50 employees who are new to apprenticeships or haven’t enrolled onto an apprenticeship programme over the past 12 months.

What are your next steps?

So if you are interested in taking on a new apprentice or continuing to develop your apprenticeship programme further you can contact the National Apprenticeship Service on 08000 150 600 or visit www.d2n2skills. co.uk. The website gives you more links to national and local advice that can help you to understand in more detail how apprenticeships can aid in your business growth.

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Big Business

October 2015

Talk Staff Recruitment Proven in delivering results and sustainable recruitment campaigns, Talk Staff Recruitment are true industry specialists and their own core values demonstrate that partnerships should be about asking the right questions and working with you to find a solution that meets your specific needs.

Where Did It All Start?

Identifying a big gap in the market, Talk Staff Recruitment was formed to work with companies that needed help and support in getting the best talent into their business, whether they’re lucky enough to have a team of in-house recruiters or where owner-managers take on the responsibility of hiring new employees.

“From the start we knew the market had already been flooded by traditional recruitment agencies that are stuck in their ways, offering solutions that hadn’t really changed” says Gary Parsons.

Why One Solution Doesn’t Fit All In a constantly challenging employment market, employers need to be looking at different ways that they can bring results when it comes to staffing.

Simply placing an advert in a local newspaper has now become one of the least preferred methods of recruitment, thanks to the age of digital job boards and increase in not only internet usage but mobile technology too.

Talk Staff Recruitment focus all their efforts on attracting talent using a range of channels, in the same way that many business attract customers through their door or to their website to purchase products. However, their focus is on getting candidates interested in each client with job opportunities available.

Technology & Candidates Have Changed the Recruitment Market Using industry leading technology that’s been developed with partners and in-house, consultants can quickly get access to tools that bring with them results and with

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the knowledge that candidates no longer accept any job but want to work for a company that has a reputation that matches their personal values and deals with them respectfully through the sometimes lengthy recruitment process.

Consider Your Competitor’s Strategy Those companies that are complacent and don’t consider their competitors as a threat may unexpectedly walk into a situation that loses talented candidates or existing employees because communication hasn’t been effectively managed.

In a recent survey for website Glassdoor, it was found that employers that actively managed their brand for recruitment purposes would expect 94% of people to be more likely to apply for their jobs, rather than click and move onto competitor’s job listings.

Dangers of Business Growth If handled incorrectly, it’s very easy for recruitment to stunt a company’s growth and having an expert on your side throughout these busy periods can reap rewards in all areas.

Used to working at all levels of an organisation, Talk Staff Recruitment knows that getting this wrong can not only have a detrimental effect on results but both productivity and financials too.

Developing an Effective Strategy If you’re thinking of taking steps to start writing a recruitment strategy, consultants will always advise you to pause and think take advice. Often you can seek informal advice free of charge and searching Talk Staff Recruitment’s website you’ll find free

guides, hints and tips on making your first steps count.

Using a ‘Recruitment Agency’ vs. ‘Search Agency’ When engaging with traditional search agencies, you should be seeking out those who operate across all key functions and at all levels of your business. When it comes to briefing a chosen agency, companies need to be looking to form a partnership with someone that fully understands your ways, as well as both short-term and longer sighted business goals.

Concentrate on Key Business Functions In a constantly challenging employment market, it should be a key consideration to look at your own business functions and ensure that each element is being carefully delivered to meet business expectations that affect perceptions of both internal and external candidates.

In 2015, employees now expect to be communicated with and told what challenges are being faced. When competitors are winning contracts or making redundancies, both prospective and existing employees need to know about you too.

Why Derby Business Expo?

It’s important to be attending the Derby Business Expo in October 2015, so that the conversation on staffing can really get started and positive changes can begin.

Whether you’re already located in the East Midlands or looking to bring a business to different parts of the UK, you’ll need someone that truly wants to get an understanding of your business and partner with you to make it an even better one.

Big Business

October 2015

talk staff

TM TM

RECRUITMENT

Working with you to find the best talent Rather than offering just one solution, we offer a range of them.

Strategy

Marketing

Search

Outsource

Developing results driven and sustainable employer brand strategies

Attracting staff through creative campaigns using leading technology

Finding staff that meet short-term and long-term business objectives

Removing the stress from key business functions to increase efficiency

Inspiring People, Delivering Results.

Tel: 01773 828 326 41 www.talkstaffrecruitment.co.uk

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October 2015

Big Business

October 2015

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Big Business

October 2015

6 Steps To Successful Networking 1. Prepare- Most network event organisers will send through an attendees list prior to the event itself, so ensure you look through it and make a bee-line for those who will be relevant to you to chat to initially, you can always ask the organiser to introduce you to someone in particular if you think that will help break the ice.

2. Know Your Market- Only you know what your target demographic is for your business, so aim for network events that you know are going to contain some of those industries relevant to you and ensure that you speak to them.

3. Have a Secret Target- Set yourself a goal for example “I am going to have three good conversations” it is about quality not quantity, the best networker was never the one who scanned the room trying to get as many business cards as they could in the allocated time- it is not a race- Be the tortoise not the hare.

4. Build Relationships- People so often forget that networking is a much more drawn out process of generating business.

It is rare you are ever going to ‘land’ a

deal with someone you have only just met- it is about ‘building relationships’ and trust with that person before they will even consider you as a potential supplier- REMEMBER- People buy people so the more genuine, professional and appealing you are as a character, the more likely you are to be remembered when that person needs the service you provide.

5. Enjoy it- What is the point in taking time out of your busy life –out of choice, if you are not going to enjoy it? Choose events that you think you will enjoy and make the most out of the ones that didn’t quite meet your expectations, you don’t have to go back, but the point is you tried.

6. Follow Up- ALWAYS follow up with the contacts you made at a network event, even if you don’t think that they were relevant to you at the time- you never know who they know or what they may be able to help with in the future.

Fiona Duncan, RSViP Business Network - www.rsvipnetwork.co.uk

RSViP Business Network promotes relaxed, open networking amongst like-mind professionals from the East Midlands, by hosting monthly Business Network Socials for SME’s and large corporate firms from a wide range of industries.

Come try us out- Your First Time is FREE: Upcoming Business Network Social Events 2015: • Thursday 22nd October @ Baresca

• Thursday 26th November @ Alea

GET IN TOUCH TO BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE- info@rsvipnetwork.co.uk / 0115 9417 548 44

Big Business

October 2015

Business Network Network with the decision makers

Our Brand New Premium Level Business Membership RSViP Gold Now Available 45

0115 9417 548 • info@rsvipnetwork.co.uk • www.rsvipnetwork.co.uk

Big Business

October 2015

Over £21,500 raised on the night of the 3rd Hall-Fast Charity Ball!

240 people attended a black tie, charity event at the John Fretwell Centre organised by Mansfield based industrial supplies firm Hall-Fast.

Hall-Fast joined forces with former Nottingham Rugby legend David Jackson at the start of the year and committed to raising £30,000 within 12 months which will be split 50/50 between Headway – The brain injury association and Mansfield’s Fountaindale SEN School, which helps youngsters aged three to 19 years with physical and sensory needs.

Hall-Fast MD Malk Hall said the ‘’It was a fantastic event and a huge success, we will 46

not know exactly how much was raised on the night for another week as we wait for all of the money to come in, but it will be in excess of £21,500, I would like to thank the event sponsors, everyone who donated auction and raffle prizes and everybody who came along to the event’’ Almost £8,000 was also raised earlier in the year from a 100 mile Nottingham Rugby Charity Bike Ride, and with a 300 miles in 24 hours charity bike ride (Newcastle to

London) taking place on the 22nd August, it is hoped that closer to £35,000 will actually be raised this year.

Hall-Fast began their fundraising campaign almost three years ago, and the amount of money raised for the Fountaindale SEN School is expected to surpass £60,000 by the end of this year.

Big Business

October 2015

Sweet result as newcomer The Treat Kitchen is crowned Nottingham’s Top Independent Business 2015 Wheeler Gate confectionary store, The Treat Kitchen, has been revealed as the overall winner of Nottingham’s Top Independent Business Competition 2015, organised by the Nottingham Business Improvement District (BID), as part of its month-long campaign to highlight the strength and diversity of independent retail and leisure businesses in the city centre.

The Treat Kitchen has enjoyed huge popularity since its opening earlier this year. Stocking 36 flavours of jelly beans, 88 varieties of gourmet chocolates and with its own on-site fudge kitchen, The Treat Kitchen is the creation of confectionary enthusiasts, Martin and Jess Barnett.

In addition The Cheese Shop on Flying Horse Walk was highly commended in the shops and services category and White Rabbit Teahouse on Bridlesmith Walk was highly commended in the eating, drinking and things to do category.

The results were revealed after a thorough assessment process that involved a 6,800-strong public vote followed by a mystery shopper round to independently assess the ten businesses with the most

votes. The final verdict was then reached by a judging panel that comprised of Claire Catlow, deputy editor of the Nottingham Post; Catherine Mayhew from Nottingham City Council; Judy Taft of Nottingham Trent University and Richard Spurr of Notts TV. Nottingham BID director and owner of independent gift shop, The Tokenhouse, Geoff Williams, said: “Many congratulations to The Treat Kitchen on winning the competition. We have lots of great well established independent businesses in the city centre so there was plenty of competition for the title. As a newcomer – and it’s always great to welcome a new independent business to the city - it means that The Treat Kitchen has done particularly well to win and we wish them continued success.”

“The range and quality of independent high street businesses in the city centre is something that Nottingham should be very proud of,” said Catherine Mayhew, city centre co-ordinator at Nottingham City Council. “It gives shoppers and visitors a unique and interesting experience they won’t get in other places, and by supporting

these small businesses they are getting good quality products and services as well as helping to improve the local economy. It is good to see the number of votes cast has increased this year, representing over 260 different businesses.”

“I felt that all the independents that were listed in the top 10 had a lot to offer the customer but The Treat Kitchen stood out for their innovative ideas and excellent customer service,” said Judy Taft of Nottingham Trent University.

The other businesses that made the top ten in the public vote were Cookie Shake Cafe, MemSaab, Lost City Golf, NKD Waxing, Sutherland and Barnett, Thea Caffea and Zullo and Holland.

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